Slug casting machine



Aug. 22, 1939. A. M. BRAMBLETT 2,170,005"

SLI JG CASTING MACHINE SSheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 17, 1937 INVENTOI A TTORNE g- 2 1939- A. M. BRAMBLETT 2,170,005

SLUG CASTING MACHINE Filed N v. 17, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 A TTORN. Y5

A. M. BRAMBLETT SLUG CASTING MACHINE 3 Sheets- Sheet 3 Patented Aug. 22, 1939 PATENT OFFICE SLUG CASTING MACHINE Ardrey M. Bramblett, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Mergenthaler Linotype Company, a corporation of New York Application November 17, 1937, Serial No. 174,961

17 Claims. (o1. l9962) This invention relates to slug casting machines of the general organization represented in U. S. Letters Patent No. 436,532 to Mergenthaler, wherein circulating matrices are released from a magazine in the order in which their characters are to appear in printand then assembled in line;-

the composed line transferred to the face of a slotted mold; the mold filled with molten metal to form a type bar or slug against the matrices 0 which produce the type characters thereon; and

the matrices thereafter returned through distributing mechanism to the magazine from which they started.

During the formation of the type bar or slug,

l5 considerable heat is absorbed by the walls of the mold, and to prevent the heat thus absorbed from accumulating to the extent that it would prevent the slugs from congealing at the proper rate When the machine isOperated continuously, it is customary to provide such machines with mold,

cooling devices, While, in general, such devices are satisfactory, yet in certain instances, as, for example, when the machine is set to produce slugs above 36 point in thickness and up to 42 ems in length, it has often been found necessary to reduce the speed of operation of the casting mechanism in order to afford more time for the cooling of the mold to insure the casting of slugs sufiiciently free of air holes or other imperfections to enable them to withstand the heavy pressure to which they are subjected in modern printing operations.

In accordance with the present invention,how-

ever, means are provided whereby a blast ofair is directed against a sufficient area of the mold to insure the removal of the heat at a rate which will enable the casting mechanism'to operate at its normal rate of speed to'produce large or heavy bodied type bars or slugs which are solid and otherwise free from imperfections. More specifically, means are provided whereby air from'any suitable source is discharged into a housing having a rear and a front compartment, the rear compartment being adapted and arranged to discharge air against the rear face of the mold as well as through the mold slot after the slug has been ejected therefrom, and the front compartment being adapted and arranged to discharge air against the front face as well as against the outer or top face of the mold. The air thus discharged against these radiating surfaces dissipates the heat accumulated by the'mold during a casting operation at a rate sufiiciently rapid to enable the production of solid heavy bodied slugs without-any decrease in the normal speed of the machine. 1

For a clearer understanding of the invention reference may be made to the accompanying drawings wherein;

Fig, l-is a front'elevational view of portions of a line casting machine showing the improved cooling device applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation, partly in section, of a portion of the machine showing the cooling device thereon; I

Fig. 3 is a side elevation, partly in section, of a similar portion of the machine with the cooling device mounted thereon;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2

Fig 5 is a perspective view, partly in section, of the modified ejector blade keeper employed in the present invention; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective View of the air duct which combined with the modified ejector blade keeper to which it is secured forms the housing for directing the air against the mold.

In the normal operation of the machine, the matrices are released from a storage magazine under the control of a keyboard Ill, and as they are released, they pass down or through a channeled raceway or assembler entrance ll onto a conveyor belt l2 which delivers them to the customary assembler l3 wherein they are coirposed in line, the assembler thereafter being raised, as usual, to deliver the composed line tothe intermediate channel I4 through which the line is transferred to a line transporter or first elevator l 5. The line transporter or first elevator l5-then descends to position the composed line between a pair of vise jaws l6 and Il, respectively, and in front of a slot l8 in a mold it carried by a wheel 20 rota-tably mounted on a fore-and-aft mold slide 2|, the wheel 20 having previously been rotated through a quarter turn to carry the mold l9 from its vertical ejecting position to its horrzontalcasting position. The mold slide 2i then advances to carry the front face of the mold i9 against the composed line, the mold filled with molten metal to form a type bar or slug against the matrices which produce the type characters thereon, the mold slide 21 retracted to carry the mold l9 away from the composed line back to its rotating position, the wheel 2 rotated through a three-quarter turn to carry the mold l9 from its horizontal casting position back to its vertical ejecting position, the matrices returned through distributing mechanismto the magazine from whichthey started, and the mold slide 2! again advanced to carry the front face of the mold against the rear faces of a pair of trimming knives (not shown). Ejector blades 22 which are maintained in superposed relation against the side face of the mold slide 2| by a keeper plate 23,, and which are selectively chosen to accord with the length of the mold slot l8, are then advanced from the rear to force the slug or type bar out of the mold l9 and between the trimming knives, after which the mold slide is again retracted to carry the mold wheel 29 back to its rotating position to complete a machine cycle of operation.

As usual, the mold wheel 20 is provided with a number of molds [9 to enable slugs of different sizes to be cast; and to permit any selected mold to be brought into operative position, the wheel is adapted and arranged to be rotated manually when the machine is at rest.

Each mold comprises a body portion 24, a cap portion 25 and tWo intermediate and liners 26 and 21, and when the slugs to be cast are of the head letter or display variety, the cap portion 25 is provided with core sections 28 which project into the mold slot or cavity l8.

During the casting operation, considerable heat is absorbed by the walls of the mold, and in accordance with the present invention means are provided for cooling the mold after each casting operation so that the heat thus absorbed will not accumulate to the extent where it would prevent the proper slug or type bar formation prior to the ejecting operation. To this end, the ejector blade keeper plate 23 which is secured to the outer side face of the mold slide 2| by screws 29 is modified to include a side plate 30 and inclined bafile plates 3| which define a number of air passages 32 behind the cap portion 25 of the mold when the mold is in its vertical casting position. To bring these air passages 32 behind a portion of the mold slot 18, as well as behind the entire width of the mold cap 25 when large slugs are being cast, the side plate 30 which forms one wall of the air passages 32 is positioned adjacent the inner periphery of the mold wheel 20 and the thickness of the forward end of the keeper plate 23, which forms another wall of the air passage 32 is reduced. A housing member 33 which opens from the upper end of an air duct 34 is secured by screws 35 to the ejector blade keeper plate 23, and it comprises a rear compartment 36 and a front compartment 31 between which a marginal portion of the mold wheel 20 rotates.

In the present embodiment of the invention, air at a high velocity is forced into the housing member 33 through the duct 34 and a flexible hose coupling 38 from a blower 39 mounted behind the keyboard ID on a bracket 40 carried by the main frame of the machine, the power for driving the blower being supplied by the socalled intermediate shaft 4| through the medium of a drive pulley 42 mounted thereon, a pair of pulleys 43 and 44 mounted on opposite ends of a shaft 45 journalled in a bracket 46 carried by the blower 39, a pulley 41 mounted on the blower shaft 48, and the necessary intermediate drive belts 49 and 50.

As shown more clearly in Fig. 4 the rear compartment 36 is adapted and arranged to direct a portion of the air supplied by the blower 39 through the air passages 32 against the rear face of the mold cap 25, and since the air is directed downwardly through the air passages 32 and against the rear face of the mold cap 25, it is broken up into eddy currents which serve to cool the entire rear face of the mold cap 25. In addition, after the slug has been ejected the air passes through the slot l8 and cools the mold interiorly. Furthermore, since there is a slight clearance between the rear face of the mold body 24 and the forward end of the mold slide 2!, some of the air discharged against the rear face of the mold cap 25 will escape through this clearance and so exert a cooling effect on the rear face of the mold body.

Also, as shown more clearly in Fig. 4, the front compartment 31 is adapted and arranged to direel; 8. portion of the air supplied by the blower against the exposed portion of the top or outer face of the mold cap 25 as well as across the front face of the mold cap, with the result that these portions of the mold are also cooled. In addition, since the air is directed against these portions of the mold in an inward direction and since the trimming knives are mounted slightly in advance of the mold, they serve as a baflle to direct the air across the front face of the body portion 24 of the mold.

The air thus discharged against the mold serves to dissipate the heat absorbed during a casting operation at a rate which enables the casting mechanism to operate at its normal rate of speed to produce large or heavy bodied type bars or slugs which are solid and otherwise free of imperfections. This mold cooling effect is also promoted by the cooling of the mold disk which, as clearly shown in Fig. 4, is located be tween the rear and front compartments 36 and 31 of the housing and is constantly subject to the cooling influence of the air passing through and from the housing. Indeed, the mold disk acts as a separating partition between the compartments and aids in giving direction to the air blowing through the housing.

In the accompanying drawings, the invention has been shown merely by way of example and in preferred form, and obviously many variations and modifications may be made therein which will still be comprised within its spirit. It is to be understood, therefore, that the invention is not limited to any specific form or embodiment, except insofar as such limitations are specified in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a slotted mold, and means for discharging air simultaneously along different paths against the rear and top faces of the mold.

2. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a slotted mold, a slug ejector located at the rear of the mold, and means for discharging air simultaneously along different paths against the rear and top faces of the mold as well as through the mold slot after the type bar has been ejected therefrom.

3. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a slotted mold, and means for discharging air simultaneously along different paths against the front and rear faces of the mold.

4. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a slotted mold, and means for discharging air along one path against the rear face of the mold and simultaneously along a different path against the front and top faces of the mold.

5. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a slotted mold, a slug ejector located at the rear of the mold, and means for discharging air along one path against the front and top faces of the mold, and simultaneously along a different path against the rear face of the mold as well as through the mold slot after the slug has been ejected therefrom.

6. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a mold wheel carrying a slotted mold, a mold wheel slide giving support to a slug ejector, a housing mounted on said slide and adapted to direct air simultaneously against the front and rear faces of the mold, and means for forcing air into said housing.

'7. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a mold wheel carrying a slotted mold, a mold wheel slide giving support to a slug ejector, a housing mounted on said slide and adapted to direct air against the front, rear, and top faces of the mold, and means for forcing air into said housing.

8. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a mold wheel carrying a slotted mold, a mold wheel slide giving support to a slug ejector, a housing mounted on said slide and adapted to direct air against the front, rear, and top faces of the mold as well as through the mold slot after the slug has been ejected therefrom, and means for forcing air into said housing.

9. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a mold wheel carrying a slotted mold, a mold wheel slide giving support to a slug ejector, a housing mounted on said slide and adapted to direct air against the front face of the mold, and means for forcing air into said housing.

10. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a mold wheel carrying a slotted mold, a mold wheel slide giving support to a slug ejector, a housing mounted on the slide and adapted to direct air against the front and top faces of the mold, and means for forcing air into said housing.

ll. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a mold wheel carrying a slotted mold, a mold wheel slide givingsupport to a slug ejector, a side plate carried by said slide, intermediate bafile plates which define air passages between the slide and the plate, a housing mounted on the mold wheel slide and adapted to direct air through the air passages against the rear face of the mold, and means for forcing air into said housing.

12. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a mold wheel carrying a slotted mold, a mold wheel slide giving support to a slug ejector, a side plate carried by the slide, intermediate baffle I plates which define air passages between the slide 13. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a mold wheel carrying a slotted mold, a mold wheel slide giving support to a slug ejector, a side plate carried by the slide, intermediate baffie plates which define air passages between the slide and the plate, a housing mounted on the mold wheel slide and having a rear compartment adapted to direct air through the air passages against the rear face of the mold and a front compartment adapted to direct air against the top face of the mold, and means for forcing air into said housing.

14. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a mold wheel carrying a slotted mold, a mold wheel slide giving support to a slug ejector, a side plate carried by the slide, intermediate bafile plates which define air passages between the slide and the plate, a housing mounted on the mold wheel slide and having a rear compartment adapted to direct air through the air passages against the rear face of the mold and a front compartment adapted to direct air against the top and front faces of the mold, and means for forcing air into said housing.

15. In a slug casting'machine, the combination of a mold wheel carrying a slotted mold, a mold wheel slide giving support to a slug ejector, a side plate carried by the slide, intermediate baffle plates which define air passages between the slide andthe plate, a housing mounted on the mold wheel slide and having a rear compartment adapted to direct air through the air passages against the rear face of the mold and through the mold slot after the slug has been ejected therefrom and a front compartment adapted to direct air against the top and front faces of the mold, and means for forcing air into said housing.

16. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a slotted mold, a rotatable wheel for carrying said mold from casting to ejecting position and vice versa, a relatively fixed housing supported at the ejecting position and through which the mold wheel passes, said housing having front and rear compartments opening toward and separated by the mold wheel, and means for forcing air into said housing.

1'7. In a slug casting machine, the combination of a slotted mold, a rotatable wheel for carrying said mold from casting to ejecting position and vice versa, a fore-and-aft slide on which the mold wheel is mounted, a housing carried by the mold wheel slide at the ejecting position and through which the mold Wheel passes, said housing having front and rear compartments opening toward and separated by the mold wheel, and means for forcing air into said housing.

ARDREY M. BRAMBLETT. 

